One reason it is hard to learn the geography of the local universe is that it is 3-D. A map, as a 2-D object, is easy to spread out on a table so you can learn 2-D relationships between places.

Within the disk, the brightest stars trace out the characteristic ... and map their distribution in space. We are only beginning to learn and explore the geography of the universe.

And Mandelbrot himself wondered if the universe is a fractal. If, as we zoom out, we will see the same kinds of structures appearing again and again. And in a way, that's what we see: a hierarchy ...